Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner has applied translucent washes of watercolour in broad, gestural strokes to set out the basic arrangement of this Folkestone beach composition. The obscure outline of a headland is visible in the distance. It is summarily rendered with swift lines and dots of purple and with grey wash applied with a dry brush lending it a mottled appearance. Faint, vertical dry-brush strokes at the right could possibly suggest sea grasses of some sort. Turner has applied a very thin layer of grey wash for the overcast sky. Rainfall is evoked above the headland where the wash has dragged against the grain of the paper.

Technical notes:

Some of the watercolour continues onto the opposite page and appears to have also offset onto this page.